Lt. Governor Ken Ard Faces 92 State Ethics Charges

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Ken Ard faces 92 state ethics charges alleging he used campaign money for personal purposes and failed to disclose campaign spending.

The State Ethics Commission on Wednesday said it would release details of the charges in the next few days.

The ethics agency said it found probable cause to bring charges on 69 counts of converting campaign money to personal use. It also found probable cause for 23 counts of failing to disclose spending.

Ard said he planned to cooperate with the commission "to resolve any issues they might have."

He says if he's made errors, he will take responsibility for them and correct them.

The commission had already asked Ard to explain nearly $25,000 in campaign spending, including $3,000 at a Florence Best Buy store.

'Japanese People Are Not Alone'

Today 12:38 PM Obama:
In a bid to reassure Americans, President Obama said in a speech today that the administration "does not believe harmful levels of radiation [will] reach the US west coast, Hawaii, Alaska or US territories in the Pacific".

He said that he has ordered a review of U.S. nuclear facilities as a precaution, but believes they are safe.

He also urged all U.S. citizens in Japan to continue to monitor the situation, and expressed concerns for the safety of those nearby the troubled nuclear reactor in Japan.

Credit: Huffington Post

Powered by Qumana

Japan Earthquake News

A third explosion in four days rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeast Japan early Tuesday, the country's nuclear safety agency said.

The blast at Dai-ichi Unit 2 followed two hydrogen explosions at the plant -- the latest on Monday -- as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.

Eric Cantor Defends Foreign Aid Cuts In Aftermath Of Japan Earthquake, Tsunami

With Japan reeling from last week's magnitude 8.9 earthquake and the tsunami that followed, leading House Republicans on Monday defended cuts to foreign aid and ocean safety in their budget proposals, arguing the cuts are necessary to shrinking the nation's deficit.

"All of us need to be tempered by the fact that we've got to stop spending money we don't have," Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R - VA.) told reporters at his weekly press briefing. "Essentially, what you are saying is to go borrow money from the Japanese so we can spend it there to help the Japanese."

Microsoft Will Reportedly Stop Making Zune Devices

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft will no longer release new versions of the Zune player, due to poor demand. As recently as February 2011, Microsoft insisted that Zune wasn't going anywhere.

In some sense, this is true. The software, at least, will live on, as Microsoft moves its attention to mobile phones, using the Zune software to let customers access media on those phones.